Tuesday, February 21, 2017

So, in this post, I talked about my first trip to South Africa in June 2016, when I visited Johannesburg and Cape Town. I only wrote about the first part of my trip in Jo'Burg and promised to follow up with a Cape Town post, but that ended up not happening. Plus the first time I went, it was for work and I really didn't see much outside of my hotel and the conference venue.

I'm working out of South Africa for the month of February, so last weekend I decided to do a proper, if short, Cape Town trip from Friday to Sunday and it was glorious.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

I mentioned in my previous post, that I was blogging from South Sudan. Yup...I'm back in Malabo now, but even typing it is a little unreal. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined going to South Sudan of all places. But it happened, and it was definitely an experience.

Monday, November 28, 2016

I'm as surprised as you are that I'm blogging right now, because 30 minutes ago TWP hadn't crossed my mind in months. Right now I'm in bed, at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Juba, South Sudan. I'd opened up my laptop to make some notes for a meeting I have on Monday...and before I knew it I was typing www.thirdworldprofashional.com.

Monday, June 13, 2016

As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent last week in the South African cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town. Even though I was there for work and saw more of my hotel than the actual surroundings, it was still pretty memorable.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

I'm currently typing this somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean, between Europe and North America.

My friend Mia of Miafarradaily has long since advocated trans-atlantic flights as the perfect period for introspection, writing and drinking lots of wine. My usual over 6 hour flight practice is eat, watch something, read, sleep....rinse and repeat. But today is a work day back home in Malabo and in between assuring clients I am not going to abandon them because I'm going on vacation and furiously responding to work e-mails that materialized overnight, I decided to blog as well.

Over the past week I have been in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Addis Ababa, Malabo, Frankfurt & Lagos (transit), and I am now headed to Los Angeles. That should give you an idea of why I'm currently wild-eyed, unable to sleep, watch another movie, or even read. I am so sleep deprived and running on pure adrenaline that I have turned into one of those crazy people who never switch off. I left Malabo yesterday at 8pm to arrive LA around 9pm today WAT, people at work must be wondering if I'm mad sending in-flight emails at 2pm instead of getting the rest I truly deserve.

I am well aware I haven't blogged in a month or so, as my regular Profashionals have come to understand, I take breaks from TWP periodically when certain aspects of my life become manic. As I work towards achieving a balance, slowly I come back to my little piece of internet real estate.

For the first month after I moved to EG, things were a bit slow, it was election period there and because I work primarily for the government not a lot was going on, so I kind of gradually eased into life there. Then at the beginning of May everything kind of exploded, work became CRAZY. I've been so used to in-house Counsel life and having just one un-demanding multinational client, that I'd completely forgotten what it was like to work for a law firm and have multiple clients expect you to ask "how high" when they tell you to jump. I literally wake up in the middle of the night to check if I have any emails because I am such a stickler for responding at the earliest possible convenience", which according to my boss means IMMEDIATELY!

The funny thing is, despite the ridiculously high stress levels, the lack of sleep, the staring at a screen constantly figuring out a way to solve someone's problems...I am happy.

I've never been one to shirk hard work but my current levels of discipline astound me. I can be terribly lazy and always ready to do tomorrow what I can do today, but working here has revealed something about me to myself that I certainly did not know. I've honestly become a workaholic and I was never one before. I took the pursuit of pleasure very seriously and sometimes I could get so involved in inconsequential nonsense DURING work hours that I'd neglect work, knowing I could catch up later, but not deeming it important enough to attend to just then.

But now I go DAYS without checking my social media because I have so much work to do I actually forget its there. I've never been the "checking up on friends" MVP but I have now deteriorated so badly that if I didn't have some of them in groups constantly talking amongst themselves I'd scarcely remember they existed. My poor mum has given up on trying to stay in touch with me and I recently forgot a very close friends birthday, which NEVER happens!

I'm not saying its a good thing, but I've never considered myself as one of those people who would prioritize work over personal relationships and its started to happen and its just SO WEIRD.

Now I just realized I've spent the past 7 paragraphs talking about work....FML.

Ok so besides work, what else has been happening?

Life in Malabo keeps going on at its unhurried pace. I've gathered a little tribe around me, and besides flashes of FOMO when I watch Lagos weekend snaps, I'm coping quite well.

I think my favourite thing about being out of Nigeria is that I haven't heard anything regarding marriage in over two months. In Nigeria, the pressure is ever present, all the "when are you calling us o", to "I can't wait to wear your aso-ebi", to "your womb don dey tey o" (lol, true story, someone said that to a friend of mine.)

Not a peep here.

Though I love my Lagos with a deep abiding passion, I will take peace of mind over the constant haranguing I get while I'm there, and stay away for as long as possible.

Like I mentioned earlier, I went to South Africa and left my heart there.The country is SO BEAUTIFUL, the people are SO LOVELY, everything is SO AFFORDABLE, the food is DIVINE, the wines are FANTASTIC. Honestly I am so washed by SA at this point.

I've always had the slight Nigerian bias against SA, don't know why, I guess its a competition thing. Maybe I'm romanticizing it a bit, because I was only there for a week, for work, but visiting has completely changed my perspective and I'm fully prepared to pack up my 7 suitcases the day my boss says "go"!

Will blog more about it next week so you can see it through my eyes.

I also had to spend a night in Addis Ababa because Ethiopian Airlines don't care about no-one but themselves, and the contrast (for me), between the two cities was stark. I wanted to linger in South Africa but I couldn't wait to get out of Addis Ababa. I don't mean to offend anyone but the parts of the city I saw were so run-down, I couldn't believe it.

I only spent a day and a night there so I am aware I can't really make an informed assessment but I don't know how to explain it, it was just depressing. Right from the airport, all our spirits (my Team and I) sank, everywhere was just so dingy. Old Abyssinia has always been a romantic place for me, I've wanted to visit Ethiopia for ages. The history, the people, their stories, their leaders....its all been very fascinating for me, but seeing it in real life...not so much. Definitely not looking forward to going back.

Just basically checking in to say I'm alive, I'm well, I'm thriving and for the whole of next week while I'm in LA I will be kissing my ejima niece and nephew, eating loads, sleeping even more, catching up on my shows and hopefully....blogging.

Love and Light xx

p.s. Massive congrats to my egbon Noble and his gorgeous wife Chioma. Wish you guys a lifetime of friendship, happiness, children and prosperity.